Categories
Archives
Recent Comments
- HOW BANKS PREPARED FOR A U.S. DEFAULT. (2)
- GREECE’S ADVANTAGE IN THE CHICKEN GAME. (2)
- Nick: That makes sense. It reminds me of the stories Pater Familias would tell me about how in Boston the person with...
- Dick Weisfelder: Greece seems to me to be playing a game that Karl Deutsch called “underdog.” While one...
- FOOTBALL PLAYERS DELIBERATELY CAUSING CONCUSSIONS? (3)
- Nick: It was my understanding that boxing gloves were to protect the puncher’s hands and not the...
- Dick Weisfelder: Remember the Roman arenas? Bare knuckled boxing? Such injuries were taken as natural and accepted in...
- Mary Jane Schaefer: This isn’t about football. Or even sportsmanship. Well, it is about sportsmanship. But what...
- A 25 % CHANCE OF A EURO DEFAULT? (1)
- Nick: The fact that this has gone on for so long is pretty perplexing. The Economist is referring back to articles it...
- DECIDING WHAT KIND OF PATIENT YOU ARE. (1)
- Dick Weisfelder: One can be very open to new technology, but also risk averse. The recent debates about how to...
- THE EUROZONE—A CHICKEN GAME WHERE EVERY MEMBER CAN BLOW IT UP? (1)
- Mary Jane Schaefer: This is not a matter of chicken. These are all turkeys.
- PLAYING WITH MATCHES NEAR A GASOLINE TANK. (1)
- Mary Jane Schaefer: Why would the French care? As long as they take down Britain?
- NORWAY’S CHRISTMAS BUTTER SHORTAGE. (1)
- Mary Jane Schaefer: Christmas with a butter cookie shortage–in Scandinavia. This isn’t even Scrooge. This...
Meta
Monthly Archives: April 2007
ROMAN ROADS AND ROMAN PARIS.
ROMAN ROADS AND ROMAN PARIS. Lee Bryant sent me a link to this wonderful site about what remains in Paris of the ancient Roman city. I posted here about how straight and severe the Roman roads were. This discussion of … Continue reading
Posted in History
3 Comments
ARE THE VERY POOR DOING BETTER?
ARE THE VERY POOR DOING BETTER? I missed the point of Dick Weisfelder’s comment on my post HOW TO LIVE ON ONE DOLLAR A DAY. Dick wrote, “I wonder whether pundits who measure the percentage living on a dollar a … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
Leave a comment
NUTRITION AND THE VERY POOR.
NUTRITION AND THE VERY POOR. The article by Banerjee and Duflo asks “Why the poor don’t eat more?” but then raises questions about whether better nutrition has been important in improving world health and in increasing productivity. Robert Fogel in … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History
2 Comments
HOW DO THE VERY POOR MAKE A LIVING?
HOW DO THE VERY POOR MAKE A LIVING? The Banerjee and Duflo article generalizes about how the very poor make their livings. A large percentage of them are entrepreneurs–that is, self-employed. Many have multiple occupations. Agriculture is of less importance … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
Leave a comment
THE OTHER EXPENDITURES OF THE VERY POOR.
THE OTHER EXPENDITURES OF THE VERY POOR. What do people with less than one dollar a day income spend their money on–other than the calories to live on? You could think of these expenditures as little luxuries that people choose … Continue reading
HOW TO LIVE ON ONE DOLLAR A DAY.
HOW TO LIVE ON ONE DOLLAR A DAY. Tim Horford (the Undercover Economist) reports in this article on how people live on one dollar a day. It is estimated that 21% of the people in the world lived on less … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History
10 Comments
THE IDEAL IS SOME TRAFFIC AND SOME ACCIDENTS.
THE IDEAL IS SOME TRAFFIC AND SOME ACCIDENTS. Economists are trained not to look for perfection. The profession deals with optimizing subject to limitations on resources. Thus, economists look for trade offs and believe there are always possibilities for substitution. … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
2 Comments
REDUCING TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS BY INCREASING RISK.
REDUCING TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS BY INCREASING RISK. The weekend Financial Times had an article about experiments (often referred to as Shared Space projects) in a large number of cities to make streets more people friendly by making roads “look like lanes … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
2 Comments
BASKETBALL–AN EXPERIMENT THAT FAILED.
BASKETBALL–AN EXPERIMENT THAT FAILED. A follow up on an earlier post. I had posted at the beginning of the basketball season that the Bulls this year would test the importance of defense versus offense for a basketball team. I had … Continue reading
Posted in Basketball, Sports
5 Comments
SOMETIMES YOU CAN BE TOO PRETTY.
SOMETIMES YOU CAN BE TOO PRETTY. I posted earlier on the fussy literalism of New York theater critics, noting especially John Simon’s running joke that only beautiful women could play characters who were supposed to be attractive. Hilton Als has … Continue reading
Posted in Theater
2 Comments